05/11/2010, New Boat, Hurricanes, and being busy
This morning is a scramble, as we get THIRD DAY ready to leave the marina slip and head back to the Mazatlan Old Harbor. We have been able to do lots of major work items in the last week, but blowing taco money on marina fees just isn't something we like doing so at about noon, off the dock lines go. The last week in Marina Singlar cost us $95USD, which is about 10% of what we have been spending each month to cruise. So it's easy to see how spending significant or even scant time in a marina can really add up and impact your cruising budget. We wouldn't have come into the marina if it wasn't for our scheme to buy the larger boat, which is still in the works, but now with that underway there's no need to stay. It's an hour buss ride from the Old Harbor to the Marina's, but it's a Free Anchorage! We will end up moving THIRD DAY back to the marina if we actually get the new boat and park them side by side for a day or two of unloading THIRD DAY with all our junk, I mean important cruising gear, but for now, we need to continue with what got us here in the first place, which is watching our budget!
With Hurricane season officially starting in 4 days, the thought of schedule is definitely in the back of our minds! By this time last year we were working our way into the relative safety of the Northern Sea of Cortez, but here we sit smack-dab in the middle of the hurricane area. We estimate that the new boat will take us 3 to 4 weeks to get ready before we can take her up to the Northern Sea and then there's the question of what to do with THIRD DAY. One option is to leave her here in a $329/month marina slip and list her for sale with a boat broker while the other more time consuming option is to get her unloaded and then bash her back up the outside of Baja and put her on our Port San Luis mooring until she sells. It's a tough call either way, weighing a monthly expenditure on one side, with the thought of a Baja bash on the other. Boats on moorings are more difficult to sell due to the complexity of getting people out to look at them, and there is a definite advantage for a buyer making his purchase in Mexico vs California (saving California sales tax). Although June and July are historically the best two months for a trip up the outside of Baja, is that something we really want to do? Although the larger boat will be great for our long term plans, it does cause some difficult short term decisions and increases our boat work load.
At this point in the game, after two years of cruising and almost three years of refitting prior to cruising, THIRD DAY is basically perfect. The to-do-list isn't filled with important items, but more with aesthetic and nicety items. All the systems are dialed in and working well and everything is just the way we dreamed it would be when we bought the boat. So if you are looking for a truly cruise ready Pearson 365 Ketch, hey, have I got a deal for you.
I also have to admit something; I like the excitement, turmoil and unknown factors of this whole "bigger new boat deal". It fits my "type A" personality to have lots of issues swirling around and even after learning how to relax while out cruising, it's still fun to have that feeling of being slightly overwhelmed with more on the plate than I can handle. It's helps focus the mind and it's definitely true that if you want to get something done, ask someone to do it that already has too much on his plate, rather than the person with enough time!
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05/10/2010, The latest Update
Today is Monday and if the rumors are true we will find out the status of our offer on "SV Hugeness" as we have dubbed her. We were told that we would know last Friday, then Saturday, and now it's today. Some of the delay is that we are in Mexico and some of the delay results from the fact that the current owners of the boat are currently separated and living back in the US. So each time an offer or counter offer gets made, two people have to be reached, which slows things down. I guess it would have went much faster if we would have just offered the asking price, but then again we would have much more money to buy sand paper and varnish if we get her for less than the asking price!
As soon as we know something....I'll make a quick post to keep all our friends and family updated. So hang in there with us for the suspense!
Once our offer is accepted, unfortunately that isn't the end of the buying process. We then will schedule surveys to have the boat inspected to make sure there are no hidden problems or issues. The entire boat, engine, and rigging will be scrutinized by three different "experts" while we look over their shoulders and then we will take the boat out of the harbor for a test sail/motor. Our offer is contingent upon not finding any disasters during the survey process and if we do, we can either "adjust our offer downward" to reflect the problems we have found or back out of the deal all together. So the offer acceptance stage is just the first step in the boat buying process, which could take a week or two to complete. Oh and the good news is that hurricane season begins in 5 days, so that's a nice clock ticking in the back of our minds as we sit here in the hurricane zone trying to buy a bigger boat!
These two photos may help explain why we like this potential new boat, which is a 1979 Hudson Force 50. If you have seen the movie "Captain Ron" this is the same boat Boss.
Here's a photo of "My Office" looking to Starboard:
And here's a photo of "My Office" looking to Port:
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05/07/2010, or just another Day in the Cruise of THIRD DAY
Although we still don't know our future as of 0800hrs this Friday morning, we do know the dreaded 8 letter word: projects. Our first offer wasn't accepted, so we came up a little bit and told them that was our final offer and that either way we will be sailing away into the Sea of Cortez for the summer, on our current boat or the new boat. We are using our waiting time here in Singlar marina to repaint our toe rail, varnish all the teak trim in the head and v-berth, and knock out several other boat projects. We will either enjoy the beautification efforts ourselves if we don't end up getting the larger boat or the new owner of THIRD DAY will have a few less things on their project list.
In not "needing" a new boat at the moment we are not the ideal buyer from the boat brokers perspective, because the normal sales games and pressure tactics don't work on us. That "gotta-have-it" frenzy just doesn't exist since we already have a boat and are having a fabulous time out cruising. I suspect that we will know the final outcome if not later today by Monday at the latest. It's strange to have the feeling of mild ambivalence over such a major decision but getting the boat creates enough headaches (financially and to our cruise plans) that in many ways it would be a relief to have our second low offer turned down as well. I'm sure the boat could be worth the full or near asking price to someone, but to us, it simply isn't worth the full asking price even if we had the money.
A common question we have always been asked is how a family of four can comfortably live on a 36ft boat and the answer still holds true. It's easy. We have no boat payment; we get along well as a family, and with the Pacific Coast of Mexico and the Sea of Cortez as our backyard, who wants to stay aboard the boat! It's been a little challenging lately to try and explain to our friends why we were even looking at a larger boat and I think the assumption is that after two years on THIRD DAY we have finally started bouncing off the walls and decided we needed more space. However, that's not it. We could cruise for another 2yrs on THIRD DAY and be perfectly happy. She's completely fixed up, looking as pretty as she can, and set up exactly to our liking. A larger boat isn't a boat purchase for us to continue cruising, but a boat purchase looking towards the end of our cruise. Something we can live-aboard for the long term, in short a house that happens to float.
Out here in the cruising community, it's just as taboo to talk and plan for the end of your cruise as it is to talk about going cruising in the first place! Just as non-cruisers (dirt dwellers) view living ashore as the only way live, many cruisers have the opposite view that you can only truly be happy and enjoy life by living on a boat. In fact, the view seems to be that no matter how long you were out here cruising, you somehow "failed" at cruising when you return. This Cruises Failure Syndrome or CFS, as I call it, runs deep and is a bit strange and hard to understand coming from a community that seems to price itself on not having the need to conform and follow prevailing conventional wisdom.
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